When It Rains
by CloudNineKitty
Summary: Young Sasuke is an awakening baku, a supernatural being that eats dreams and nightmares. When he accidentally sends his family to the "dream realm", he must team up with Naruto, a messenger of the god Inari, to bring them back. AU, NaruSasu/SasuNaru, Sasuke ages 8-18, Japanese mythology, smut in later chapters, WIP
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**AN: This is a fantasy NaruSasu story that will probably turn into SasuNaru later on when Sasuke grows up (yes, Sasuke has some growing up to do).**

**So…enjoy!**

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><p><em>My name is Uchiha Sasuke, and I am a descendant of the Uchiha clan that is known for its breeding of a single baku in each generation. My parents had hoped severely that the ability to enter and manipulate people's dreams would be bestowed upon my older brother Itachi, but as fate would have it, I was the one born with the desire to feed off the human subconscious.<em>

_On the day of my eighth birthday, my parents told me that they would send me to my uncle, Kakashi Hatake's home where I would learn to control and apply my abilities as a baku. After all, it was easier to master your powers when they were just beginning to awaken._

_I remember lying awake in my bed that same night, listening to my older brother argue with my father about how unfair it was for me to be a baku and not him. It's not like I wanted this; destiny chose me. I could never make friends at my school because I knew I was different. I didn't belong with normal humans. Soon, I wouldn't be able to eat human food anymore. That's what happens when a baku's powers awaken. They can only eat nightmares and dreams. One day, I will forget what tomatoes, my favorite food since I can remember, taste like._

_As I continued to nod my head in agreement to each side of the argument, my mother's gentle voice barely audible as she tried to calm down the two men, I couldn't help but think that my brother would have made a much better baku._

_The sound of a slap reached my ears and I sat up quickly, shocked and curious. Who hit who? Are they okay? What's going to happen next?_

_The arguing didn't stop there and I lay back down. Pulling the covers over my head, I squeezed my eyes shut tight and willed myself asleep. My last conscious thought was that I wanted all of this to go away. The arguing, my family, my destiny…I wanted it all to go away so I could have a normal life._

_"Sasuke, find the man with the hat!"_

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><p><em>Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep…<em>

Sasuke squint his eyes at the blaring sunlight and quickly pulled the cover over his head.

_Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep…_

Peeking out from under the blanket, he focused his vision to read the face of the square clock for a minute before dropping his head back on the pillow.

_Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep…_

"I'm going to be late for school!" The young boy cried out, sitting up quickly. He turned to sit on his knees and turned off his alarm clock. He got up from his futon and ran over to his dresser, pulling out a pair of black school socks. He quickly shed his white pajama set and pushed his closet door open, tugging his school uniform from its hanger. He skipped about his room as he pulled on his black shorts and white shirt. His socks came next and he almost slipped in them as he ran across the room to the door, grabbing his suspenders off his desk on the way out.

Slightly perplexed as to why his brother wasn't in the bathroom yet, Sasuke put his suspenders on and kicked the door shut. He came back out seven minutes later with his hair and teeth brushed, and other business taken care of.

He was glad that his father didn't fuss at him when he came thumping down the stairs, though it was unusual. "I'm off to school!" he called out into the seemingly empty house as he put on his shoes. He stood up and turned to face the hallway. "Mom?" he shouted a bit louder.

To his relief, his mother stuck her head from the kitchen. "Yes dear?" she said quietly, drying her hands on a dish towel.

"I'm going to school," he told her, trying to match her tone.

"Okay dear. Remember to wear your coat, and don't lose it at school." she instructed.

Sasuke nodded and turned to get his black coat, the smallest of the four hanging on pegs in the wall. He pulled it on before grabbing his bag and looking back at his mother. "I'm off," he said.

"Bye-bye, Sasuke. You're a good boy." She said, smiling.

Sasuke smiled even wider in return and left the house.

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><p>"Sasuke-kun!"<p>

Said boy turned to look at two girls that were racing toward him up the hill he had been trekking. He knew they were in his class, but he couldn't for the life of him remember their names no matter how many times they told him. "Good morning," he said calmly to the out of breath girls.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun," the one with pink hair said with a big smile.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun," the blonde girl with a blue clip in hair repeated.

"I said that already, Ino-pig!"

'Ino-pig' glared at the other girl and pushed her back a little. "Shut up, Billboard Brow! I was being polite!"

Sasuke sighed, used to this sort of routine, and he continued walking to school. As he came to a cross in the road where two streets met, someone whistling caught his attention and he looked to his left. Ino-pig and Billboard Brow stopped their bickering and stilled behind him to see what he was looking at.

A man with bright blond hair wearing a white hat was strolling down the street, heading towards them. He had on black dress pants and shoes, and a white button down shirt that had its sleeves rolled up to the elbow. A black tie hung loose around his neck, and one hand occupied his pocket while the other twirled around a long, black umbrella.

As the man walked past the three children, he looked down at Sasuke with brilliant blue eyes and grinned, strange whisker-like marks stretching over his cheeks. He looked ahead again and started whistling where he had left off.

"_Sasuke, find the man with the hat!"_

Sasuke blinked a few times, the chilly winter air making his cheeks sting. Why did he have a memory of Itachi yelling at him to find a man with a hat?

"That man was weird," Ino-pig said in a low voice.

"He was kind of scary…" Billboard Brow agreed.

"Isn't he cold without a jacket on?" Ino-pig added.

"Why does he have an umbrella? Is it going to rain?" Billboard Brow supplied.

Sasuke only pulled the collar of his coat up around his chin and continued walking.

In class, Sasuke was finding it hard to concentrate on the lesson and he glanced out the window. He straightened his back as he looked past the front entrance of his elementary school to see the same man with the hat from that morning, walking leisurely and still twirling the umbrella. The man suddenly turned his head towards the school and looked up at the window Sasuke was sitting next to.

Sasuke ducked his head down quickly, feeling his face heat up at his stupid action. There was no way the man could see him all the way up here. He sat straight again and looked out the window only to find that the man was gone.

By lunchtime, Sasuke's notebook page was filled with the words 'hat' and 'man' along with stick figure drawings of a man wearing a hat and holding an umbrella. Each face had three lines on each cheek and the mouth was smiling.

"Sasuke, do you want to eat with us?" a boy asked, two of his friends standing behind him with their homemade bentos.

Sasuke nodded quietly, closing his notebook before they could see what was on the page. He sat quietly and watched the boys eat their lunches at his desk.

"Don't you have a lunch today, Uchiha?" one of the boys asked, pointing his salad fork at Sasuke.

Looking down at his lap, Sasuke shook his head.

One of the boys held out his chopsticks towards Sasuke, a naruto kamaboko pinched between them. "Here, have some of mine.

Sasuke took it and smiled at the boy before popping it in his mouth. He swallowed it and was about to thank the kid, but his stomach suddenly lurched and he bent forward. He quickly brought his hand up to his mouth to catch what was about to come up. The three boys at his desk gasped and jumped up when Sasuke pulled his hand away from his mouth. Dark eyes widened at the sight of the red substance spilling out of his palm and onto his desk.

"Teacher! Sasuke's throwing up blood!" one of the boys shouted.

Before Sasuke knew it, he was being ushered out of the classroom and to the nurse's office.

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><p>"I'll call you when dinner is ready," his mother said in her usual quiet voice before closing his bedroom door.<p>

Sasuke felt embarrassed that the school had to make his mother come pick him up. The walk home had been quiet and she ushered him to his room. They both already knew what was wrong. Sasuke had gotten caught up in the moment and ate human food, which his stomach could no longer sustain now that his baku abilities were awakening. He felt ashamed for forgetting, and even worse that his mother didn't even discipline him for it.

He got up from his futon and walked over to his desk, pulling out one of the books that were in a neat row against the wall. It was a book on mythology, and he had memorized what page he wanted to look at. Sitting cross-legged on his bed, he opened the book near the front where baku were defined.

The picture of a baku always got to Sasuke. It had an elephant's head and tusks with a lion's main and other animal characteristics that made up its body. Its appearance was ferocious looking, even if the book did say good things about it. He couldn't help but wonder if maybe he would turn into that creature when he became a full-fledged baku.

The thought scared him. His parents wouldn't recognize him anymore, and they'd probably disown him. Sasuke would grow up alone, feeding off people's nightmares. It sounded like a miserable existence to him, but it wasn't as if he had a choice.

Closing his eyes, Sasuke thought about the things he was going to miss once he left for training with his uncle. All that came to mind was the grinning man with the hat and umbrella, and the tune he whistled. It was a depressing and almost terrifying song, and unfamiliar too. But none of that made it any less entrancing.

It was then that Sasuke realized that he couldn't whistle. He pursed his lips like he had seen the other man doing, but only air came out. He kept trying again and again until his brother came into his room, giving him an odd look.

"What are you doing?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

"Trying to whistle," Sasuke said and pursed his lips once more, only to blow out air like before. "Itachi, can you whistle?"

Itachi pursed his lips, but he only blew out air as well. "No, I cannot," he said. "Dinner's ready, so please join us at the table." He glanced down at the opened book on Sasuke's bed carefully before slowly closing the door.

Sasuke shut the book and replaced it on his shelf. He turned off his bedroom light and went to the bathroom to wash up before heading downstairs. He sat at his usual place at the table, across from his older brother and with his back to the sink. A place wasn't set for him, but that didn't matter since he couldn't eat anyway.

Glancing nervously at his father, he waited for the subject of his incident at school to be brought up, but it never was. In fact, his father smiled at him at one point during their meal when he had caught Sasuke staring. His father had never smiled at him before and it made Sasuke's stomach queasy.

Conversation had been light at the table, with Itachi telling them about a boy who had tripped during kendo practice, pulling his own pants down. His parents laughed and Sasuke knew for sure that something wasn't right.

"Who wants some desert?" Sasuke's mother asked sweetly, getting up from the table. "Sasuke, could you please pick up the dishes and put them in the sink?"

Sasuke obediently did as he was told, gathering everything in one trip and placing them in the sink. When he returned to the table, he paused at the sight of cream puffs stacked neatly on a red plate.

Reaching forward slowly, he picked one up and looked at it. "Where did these come from?" he asked, knowing full well that there were no sweets in his house. No body in his family liked them.

"Your brother Itachi brought them home today." Sasuke's mother said, finishing the one she had been eating.

"I just thought the family might enjoy them." Itachi said with a smile.

Sasuke looked around the table with wide eyes. Even his father was eating one, complimenting on the taste. Glancing down at the cream puff in his hand, his body began to tremble. "Who…"

"Hm? What was that Sasuke dear?" his mother asked.

Sasuke glared up at her. "Who are you people?"

"Sasuke, do not speak to your mother like that," his father reprimanded him, his mouth full with the pastry.

Backing up, Sasuke shook his head. "She is not my mother. And you are not my father, and you're not my big brother. What's going on?" He could feel the stinging of tears in his eyes as the three people at the table stood up in unison.

"This is what you wanted, right Sasuke?" His mother asked, looking at him with empty eyes. "Why aren't you happy with us?"

"What?" Sasuke cried out, his back colliding with the kitchen counter. He glanced behind him to see the kitchen sink behind him, and when he looked back his mother was closer than before. "No!" he cried out in panic, reaching into the sink and grabbing a chopstick. At his cry, his mother had pounced at him and Sasuke reacted on instinct.

The woman staggered backwards, crying out in a high pitched voice that seemed almost inhuman as she clawed at the chopstick jutting from her neck.

Sasuke quickly ducked out of the way when his father lunged at him. Itachi had jumped up on to the table, knocking it over and landing on his knees. Sasuke ran around the mess, kicking a kitchen chair at his father when the man ran after him.

As he ran alongside the other side of the table, Itachi reached for him and Sasuke punched him in the nose with the fist that was still tightly clenched around a squished cream puff. He was sure he hadn't hit him that hard, but it still made Itachi back up, gripping his nose.

"Somebody help me!" Sasuke cried out, running to the front door. He unlocked it quickly and turned the knob, bolting out of the house. He spun around and kicked it shut in his father's face, hearing a shrill scream of pain. He took off down the street, tears sliding down his face and his nose running, but he couldn't care right now. He had to get out of here and somewhere safe. He realized that he had run over a mile when he reached the train tracks and he came to a stop, bending over and breathing heavily. The tears had stopped by now, and his feet hurt because he was running in his socks. He turned around to look behind him, sighing in relief when there was no one there.

"What's going on…?" he asked himself allowed, feeling the urge to cry but having no tears left to shed. His stomach quivered as the adrenaline pumping through his veins subsided, and his knees quaked. That wasn't his family back there. Who were they and what did they mean that was what he wanted? "Those people…they weren't human…"

A dog began barking in the distance and Sasuke cried out in surprise, returning to reality. He had to find help! He had to…

His ears perked at the sound of someone whistling. Not just any whistling, but the same song the man with the hat had been doing.

"_Sasuke, find the man with the hat!"_

"The man with the hat…" Sasuke whispered to himself. He began walking towards where the sound was coming from, and then he was running. A block away was the underground train station, and the whistling sounded like it was coming from inside. Going down the steps slowly, Sasuke sniffled, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand. His teeth were beginning to chatter due to him being outside in only his school uniform and socks. He stepped into the opened platform that was empty, but the whistling was definitely down here. It reverberated off the walls, confusing Sasuke as to where it was coming from. He stepped closer to the edge of the platform and turned to his right, his body tensing when he spotted the same man with the hat leaning against one of the columns.

The man stopped whistling and looked at Sasuke as though he had been expecting to see him here. And maybe he was.

He smirked and twirled his umbrella in a single loop. "When it rains, it pours." He stated casually.

Sasuke frowned, forgetting for a moment where he was and why he was there. "It's not raining outside."

Chuckling, the blond-haired man jabbed his umbrella towards Sasuke and nodded his head. "What's with the cream puff?"

Flinching, Sasuke became aware that he still had a death grip on the pastry and he threw it down on the concrete platform. He looked around for something to wipe his hand on and the man held out a blue handkerchief towards him. Sasuke studied it for a moment before taking it and muttering a thank you. He wiped his hand off and offered it back to the man.

"Keep it," he said, waving his hand at Sasuke and shaking his head. It drew Sasuke's attention back to his hat, remembering what Itachi had shouted, though he couldn't quite remember why or when.

"Are you the man with the hat?" Sasuke asked hurriedly, his cheeks flushing at his rushed words.

"I'm a man with _a_ hat," the blond responded. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I smell trouble and I follow it. So…" He grinned widely at Sasuke. 'What seems to be the problem?"

"My family!" Sasuke said, fresh tears welling up in his eyes. He quickly wiped at them, feeling like an idiot for crying in front of this man. "Something's wrong with them. They're not my family." He opened his eyes and gasped. At some point, the man had knelt down on one knee in front of him and was giving him a sympathetic look.

"It's okay," Naruto said with a gentle smile. He tousled Sasuke's hair and stood up. "I'll help you save your family."

Sasuke stared up at him with slightly wide eyes, and he wiped at his nose. "You promise?"

Naruto nodded. "Yup, I promise! That's my way of life, you see. I never break a promise. What's your name again?"

"I never told it to you…" Sasuke muttered.

"Well can you tell me now?" The man asked, a little annoyed.

"Uchiha…Sasuke…"

Naruto's eyebrows rose in interest, but gave him a bright smile nonetheless. "Okay then, Sasuke! I promise that I won't leave your side until you and your family is safe and sound." He reached out a fist to the younger boy who stared at it, confused. "You're supposed to bump fists with me now." Naruto supplied.

Sasuke made a fist and timidly pressed it against Naruto's much larger one.

"Good enough!" Naruto chuckled. "Okay, show me what's wrong with your family. Where are they?"

"At my house," Sasuke said. He suddenly remembered what he had learned in school about never telling strangers where you live, and he hesitated.

Naruto looked left and right before leaning over and talking in a low voice. "I can't help you, Sasuke, unless you bring me to the problem."

Swallowing thickly, Sasuke nodded and pushed any hesitation to the back of his mind. "Follow me," he said in a firm tone, and began running towards the stairs. When they got onto the street, Naruto called after him.

"Don't run, we'll get there."

"But…" Sasuke gasped out desperately, turning to look at Naruto in panic.

"We'll. Get. There." Naruto said, his umbrella leaning against his right shoulder and his other hand in his pocket. "What am I to do if we get there and I have no energy left to help you?"

Sasuke shifted uncomfortable, biting his lip. _'I guess I can take my time…it's not like I want to hurry back to those people. How do I even know that this man can do anything to help?'_

"Don't doubt me, Sasuke." Naruto said, looking straight ahead as he walked. "I can feel you losing faith in me. The more you believe in me, the stronger I'll be."

Obsidian eyes widened, and Sasuke nodded eagerly, taking back his own thoughts and replacing them with positive ones about the man. Naruto began whistling the same tune as before and Sasuke looked up at him. "What song is that?" he asked quietly.

"Swan Lake, Act One Finale by Tchaikovsky," Naruto said quietly and went back to whistling.

"It sounds sad…" Sasuke muttered.

"The chick gets turned into a swan and then she and her prince kill themselves. So…yeah, it's pretty sad."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, horrified. He shook his head, and hugged himself, rubbing his arms to warm up. He let out a shuddering breath, seeing his breath fan out before him.

Naruto stopped and squatted down before Sasuke, his back to the boy. "Hop on,"

"What?" Sasuke whispered, his hold body shaking.

"Get on my back. You'll be warmer and you won't have to walk in your socks." Naruto turned his head to smile at him.

Sasuke didn't need any further urging, and he crawled onto the broad back, reveling in the warmth Naruto produced.

"Hold my umbrella, please," he requested and Sasuke grabbed onto the handle of the black umbrella. Naruto hooked his arms under Sasuke's knees and stood up with ease. "Tell me where to go."

"Take a left at that house up there, and then go straight until I say to stop." Sasuke said, one arm holding out the umbrella before them while his other hugged Naruto around the neck.

They made it to his neighborhood in a lot less time that he had expected, especially at Naruto's leisure pace. "Put me down," Sasuke whispered as if afraid that if he spoke too loud, the imposters in his house a few yards away would hear him. He slid off Naruto's back and clutched the umbrella to his front, walking slowly past the two houses separating him from his own home. He got to the front gate and stilled, a sense of dread washing over his entire being.

"Give me this," Naruto muttered, taking his umbrella from Sasuke. "And stay behind me." He approached the door and Sasuke clutched to the back of his shirt. Naruto opened the door and looked inside the entry way. "All clear here…" he said. He glanced at the inside of the door where a large black streak and claw marks had been left. The two stepped into the entry way quietly and Naruto's eyes wandered wildly in all different directions. "Remember what I said about keeping faith in me?"

"Yes," Sasuke whispered.

"I meant that. Do you trust me?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Don't ever stop trusting me Sasuke. Not even for an instant." With that, Naruto slammed the front door shut, making Sasuke yelp in surprise.

An inhuman cry rang throughout the house and a woman who resembled Sasuke's mother came crawling into the entry way on all fours, her skin gray and her hair stringy and in her face.

Naruto's umbrella suddenly opened in her face when she was only three feet away from them, and she flew backwards, slamming into the wall. The umbrella closed and Naruto smacked her in the head with it before shoving it through her gaping mouth and into the wall behind her. He yanked out a chain with a blue stone attached to it that had been hidden beneath his shirt and held it out before him. "_Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin Retsu, zai, zen_! _Akuryō Taisan_!" The woman's body began to howl on its own and she suddenly split into four blurry streams and disappeared into Naruto's necklace.

Everything became quiet and Naruto looked behind him to see Sasuke pressed against the wall, shivering in terror. "You okay?"

"M-my mom…she…you just…" Sasuke stammered, falling to the floor.

"These things aren't your family, Sasuke." Naruto said sternly, getting Sasuke to stop his trembling. "They're demons from the netherworld who disguised themselves as your family."

"Demons…?" Sasuke repeated. "Are you an exorcist?"

Naruto chuckled. "No, I'm a kitsune, a messenger of Inari, who is a Shinto kami." He smirked at Sasuke. "I'm more powerful than any exorcist you'll ever meet. Now get up. There are two more." He walked out of the entry way and was immediately knocked over by a taller man with sharp teeth, his hat falling off.

"Naruto!" Sasuke cried, running over and yanking at his imposter father's shirt. "Get off of him!"

With the demon distracted by Sasuke's tugging, Naruto shoved his umbrella through the man's chest and opened it, sending him flying backwards into the den with a cavernous hole in his torso. Naruto got up and moved past Sasuke towards the demon, but another one came charging at him from down the hall. He opened his umbrella and deflected it before it could get any closer.

Sasuke watched with wide eyes as the demon resembling his father began to stand up. _'I have to help him!'_ he cried in his head and quickly ran down the hall to the kitchen. He went up to the sink and retrieved two chopsticks, planning on using them exactly like he had before. His eyes caught sight of a meat cleaver resting on the counter, and he picked that up as well.

He ran back to the den where Naruto kicked his older brother's imposter in the stomach before whacking his father in the head. "Hey Itachi!" Sasuke called out, glaring when the demon turned to look at him with a lopsided head. "Don't you dare answer to my brother's name!" He yelled, hurtling towards the monster. He slipped in his socks on the hard wood floor and fell forward, the knife falling out of his hand and skidding a few feet away from him.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, turning real quick and punching the older looking demon in the jaw. He held up his necklace and began chanting quickly.

The Itachi imposter charged at Sasuke, lunging down on him. Sasuke rolled out of the way just in time and the demon fell flat on his face on the floor. The young boy quickly straddled its back and took a chopstick in each hand, driving them into the demon's temples when it lifted its head up.

The demon shrieked and threw Sasuke off. It jumped up and held its head in its hands as it began screaming excessively, running into the walls in a confused and panicked manner. Sasuke scooted back on the floor, unable to keep from sighing in relief when Naruto ran up and stood in front of him in a protective manner.

Naruto held his necklace out to the wailing demon and said the chant like before. "_Akuryō Taisan_!"

The demon split into four different streams and was sucked into Naruto's necklace.

Sasuke's ears were ringing from the high pitched screams, but it quickly subsided. Naruto knelt down on one knee and glared at him. He gulped and looked down at his feet. "T-thank you for helping me. I don't know what I would have-"

"IDIOT!" Naruto yelled, bopping the kid on his head. "What were you thinking, trying to take on an oni all by yourself? You could have been hurt!"

Sasuke glared back at him and sat up on his legs. "You're the idiot! You let yourself get cornered! I saved you!"

"Is that how you thank someone for getting rid of demons in your house?"

"I was in the middle of thanking you and you _hit_ me!"

"Just…" Naruto sighed in defeat and bowed his head. "Don't do something like that again. You're very lucky you didn't get hurt."

Sasuke looked down, feeling slightly guilty now for getting in the middle of the fight. He reached up and hugged Naruto around the neck. "I'm sorry that I worried you."

Naruto's face became heated and he moved his arms to hug the young boy back, but stopped himself and settled with patting him on the head. "Yeah, okay." He grumbled, standing up. When Sasuke stood as well, he put his hands on his hips and studied the boy. "So you're this generation's baku, eh?"

Sasuke looked at him with wide eyes. "You know what I am?"

Naruto smiled. "Well how else could those oni have gotten in here? A fresh baku whose powers are awakening…plenty of demons in the netherworld are going to use that as a literal portal of opportunity to get in this world. It's a good thing you caught on to these guys before they sucked all the energy out of you."

"Then…where are my parents?" Sasuke asked weakly. "Where's my brother? They're not…_dead_ are they?"

Naruto let out a loud laugh, making Sasuke relax a little. "No way, they're not dead! You probably sent them to the dream realm by mistake while in your sleep and that's when those oni got in. Don't you remember dreaming something about your family disappearing?"

Sasuke thought hard for a moment, but then shook his head. "No, I don't remember." He bowed his head, embarrassed. Then a thought occurred to him. "Oh, but I do have a memory of my brother yelling at me to find the man with the hat! Though I don't know when or why he said it."

Naruto snapped his fingers and winked at Sasuke. "That's it. You might not remember dreaming it, but you did hear your brother cry out to you as they were being sucked into the dream realm."

"So you _are_ the man with the man with the hat…"

Naruto shrugged. "Like I said, I'm a man with _a_ hat."

"But you said that you're a kitsune." Sasuke deadpanned.

"Technicalities. That's boring stuff, Sasuke." He walked over to the entry way and picked up his white fedora, brushing it off before placing it back on his head. "As I promised, I'm not leaving your side until you and your family is safe."

Sasuke couldn't help but smile.

"Now…" Naruto said as he bent down and picked up his umbrella, inspecting it for damage. "Do you have a baku instructor?"

"Yes," Sasuke answered quickly. "I was going to be sent to my uncle's for training next week."

"Excellent." The older man grinned. "Where does your uncle live?"

"Kofu,"

Naruto looked at him. "Kofu…"

"Yes."

Sighing, the man shook his head. "That's gonna be a long walk." He muttered under his breath. "Okay, Sasuke. Go pack a weeks worth of clothes and get as much money as you can. We're going to visit your uncle so you can learn to control your abilities, and bring your parents back. You don't have to worry about them too much; they're not in any danger in the dream realm."

Sasuke nodded and quickly ran upstairs. He emptied out his school bag of books and grabbed practical clothing, stuffing them inside. He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out the envelope he kept his Christmas and birthday money, and allowance, shoving it between the clothes and the wall of the bag. Satisfied, he stood up and slung the bag over his shoulder. He stopped at the door and eyed the mythology book on his desk.

Dropping his bag on the floor, he pulled the book out and opened it, searching for 'kitsune.' When he found it, he read carefully. "Foxes that are intelligent with magical abilities? And they can take on a human form…? So Naruto's not human?" He read on, anxious to know more about the man that just saved his life. "The more tails a kitsune has, the older, wiser and more powerful it is…"

A knock sounded on Sasuke's door and Naruto opened it. "Ready to go?" he asked with a wide grin.

Sasuke slammed the book shut and blushed, staring at the man. Now that he knew what a kitsune really looked like, he couldn't help but think that Naruto's whisker-like marks on his cheeks made him look even more like a fox.

"I'm ready!" Sasuke said quickly, picking his bag up off the floor. He moved to follow Naruto but paused and looked back in his room. He quickly grabbed the mythology book and closed the door behind him.

"I hope you don't mind that I went snooping, but I took some extra cash I found lying around, and from your parents' and brother's wallets. We need all the money we can get." Naruto said, stepping into the entry way.

Sasuke plopped down on the floor at Naruto's feet and put his school shoes on since they were the only ones laid out. He set his bag down and put on his black coat, buttoning it all the way up and pulling the collar up around his chin. "I'm sure my parents won't mind if we take the car." Sasuke said eagerly, pulling his bag on.

Naruto laughed nervously. "Uh…no. I don't know how to drive a car."

"You don't know how to drive a car?" Sasuke asked incredulously, picking up his book.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sa-su-ke. Do _you_ know how to drive a car? No, I didn't think so. So don't go judging me." He opened the door and waited for Sasuke to step outside, following him and closing the door. He said a quick chant to protect the house while they were gone before turning and smiling at Sasuke.

"Okay, let's get going!"

"How are we getting to Kofu if we're not driving?"

"We are _walking_."

"What?"

"But first, since we're in Atami, I want to visit the beach."

"_What_?"

"To the beach!"

"Dobe, it's the middle of winter."

"What did you just call me, you little brat?"

* * *

><p><strong>And that is the first chapter of…whatever this is. I suck at writing action, I know.<br>**

**I know it seems a little weird right now, especially because Sasuke is only 8 years old, but things are going to get rolling soon and Sasuke's gonna be a big boy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**AN: Eh, it's gonna be another chapter or two before Sasuke grows up. Just letting y'all know…**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

_I knew that sound anywhere. The front door closing, which meant that big brother__ was home. I almost tripped while running down the stairs, my father calling at me from the living room to stop. But I didn't. I wanted to be the first to greet Itachi._

_He barely had any time to stand up from taking his shoes off before I crashed into his back, hugging him around the waist. "Welcome home, Itachi!" I shouted, earning another disciplinary remark from my father about being so loud. "Now that you're home, will you play with me?"  
><em>

_Itachi turned around in my hold, raising his arms so he didn't hit me with them. He didn't get a chance to say anything due to our mother__ walking by the entryway to get to the stairwell._

_"Sasuke, Itachi needs to do his homework before he can play with you." She adjusted the laundry basket full of our clothes in her hands, waiting to see me let go of him. She knew that if she left now I would probably try to convince Itachi to ignore her and play with me.  
><em>

_Probably because he could feel my pout, Itachi placed his hands on my shoulders and smiled at our mother. "It's okay, I can do it later. After all, Sasuke won't be here forever."_

_My mother looked at him with narrowed eyes, silently warning him to watch what he said and he shrugged his shoulders with an apologetic smile.  
><em>

_I never figured what he meant by that until after it was too late._**  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The train jerked as it began moving and Naruto went toppling forward into one of the empty seats. "Shit!" he cried out in surprise, steadying himself with his hands on the backrest. Turning, he looked at Sasuke and made a face. "Ah…never ever say that word. That's a very bad word."<p>

Sasuke had to keep himself from glaring at the man and settled on nodding instead. He knew that was a bad word, he wasn't a baby. He was eight years old, practically an adult. He knew better.

"You're a really quiet kid when you're not freaking out." Naruto stated, sitting down in the seat next to Sasuke. He crossed his legs and laid his umbrella across the two seats next to him.

The young Uchiha looked at him before staring down at his lap. He was only quiet because he didn't know what to say. It wasn't like Naruto was easy to talk to. He was tall and intimidating; Sasuke had seen what he can do with his umbrella. When he wasn't in danger of oni attacking, Sasuke wasn't sure what to think of this man. He was eccentric, that was for sure. And he was also mysterious. As they walked around the city, he would look at inanimate objects and people knowingly and usher Sasuke to move faster, or pull Sasuke closer to him protectively. It was as if he was seeing things that bothered him, but Sasuke saw nothing wrong or threatening. Maybe it was just a kitsune thing…

They rode the train in silence, Naruto making small comments now and then on the buildings and scenery they passed. When they got to their stop, Naruto dragged Sasuke to a small convenience store to get some lunch. Sasuke wanted to tell him that he couldn't eat anything, but decided against it. He would just pretend to not have an appetite like he had for the past few days.

Though, for some reason, he wasn't feeling that hollow hunger like usual. He always seemed satisfied, especially at night.

"If you want, we can stop at Mount Takao." Naruto said, paying the man behind the counter and taking the bag with their bentos in his other hand. He ushered Sasuke out of the store. "Is Kofu on JR Central?"

Sasuke looked at the blond incredulously. "Yes."

"Hey, don't look at me that way. I don't memorize the Japan Railway maps." Naruto grumbled, walking up to the ticket vending machine. He handed his umbrella and the bentos to Sasuke as he selected their tickets. "I don't know about you, but I'm tired from all the walking and train rides, what about you?"

Sasuke knew Naruto was trying to get him to talk more, but the things he was saying were tedious and Sasuke didn't feel like responding. "Sure…"

"Then we'll stay at an inn or something when we get to Hachiōji. Is that okay with you?"

"Sure."

"Okay, I have to pee. Want to wait here with the stuff?" Naruto said, looking at Sasuke as he pocketed their tickets.

Sasuke checked the area around him, studying the people also waiting for the train, and then shook his head. "I'll go too." Naruto sighed and they went to the public bathroom together. As Naruto stood at the urinal, Sasuke eyed the stall at the end warily. "Aka Manto…"

"What was that?" Naruto asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Aka Manto, the spirit that haunts public and school bathrooms. He asks you if you want blue paper or red paper." Sasuke said.

Naruto chuckled and shook himself off. "Oh yeah, him. He's supposed to be a beautiful man, but he was constantly hounded by admirers, so he wears a mask." He walked to the sink and washed his hands.

Sasuke looked down at his school shoes. "If you answer 'red paper,' you slice apart till your clothes turn red. If you say 'blue paper,' you're strangled till your face turns blue. And if you try to trick him by asking for a different color you are dragged to the netherworld."

Naruto hummed and turned to look at the young boy, leaning back against the sink. "In that case, I think the way you should answer him is 'no paper.' Then you will live." He took his umbrella and the bentos back from Sasuke and returned to the platform where the train was pulling up.

They got on and took their seats quietly, only three other people scattered through out the car with them. A few minutes after the train started rolling, Naruto handed Sasuke his bento box and then he opened his.

Sasuke lifted a baby corn cob up to his mouth, but it slipped from between his chopsticks and hit the side of his cardboard box. Naruto caught it in his hand quickly and popped it into his mouth. Sasuke looked at him in awe. Naruto was very skilled. It made him think back to what he read in his mythology book about how strong and wise a Kitsune was depending on how many tails they had. "How many tails do you have?" He blushed when the question left his mouth without his consent. He looked back at his food, trying to make it seem like he hadn't said anything.

Naruto picked up a ball of rice and crab meat wrapped in seaweed with his chopsticks and lifted it to his mouth. "Nine," he said casually, stuffing his mouth with the roll.

Sasuke looked at him as he ate and noticed a grain of rice stuck to the corner of Naruto's mouth. Reaching forward, Naruto stilled as Sasuke pulled it off and ate it. He looked at Naruto questioningly who in return blushed and hastily returned to eating.

While Naruto was facing away, Sasuke spun around and coughed up a small amount of blood into his hand. He wiped it onto his coat and turned back to the bento on his lap, picking at it with his chopsticks, unaware of the blue eyes watching him.

* * *

><p>As Naruto had said, they found a traditional Japanese inn when they got to Hachiōji. It was small, as if it were originally a house that has been made into a lodging establishment. However, there was something about it that made Sasuke feel uneasy. It was as if someone was watching him as soon as he stepped inside.<p>

"Hello?" Naruto called out, looking around the entry way. "Maybe they're closed?" he muttered, approaching the front desk and running his fingers over it. There was no dust, so it had been cleaned recently. He sniffed his fingers and frowned.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, a little concerned by Naruto's strange action.

"No one's been here for a long time. I can only smell the scent of one person." He trailed of when the door behind the front desk slid open and a woman with black hair and fair skin came out. Her eyes were a deep red, and they almost matched the red in the kimono she wore.

"Oh, I didn't know anyone was here. Forgive me." she said and bowed to them.

Naruto and Sasuke also bowed, and then Naruto smiled brightly at her. "Good afternoon. We need a room for the night, please."

"Oh, I'm afraid we have no rooms available." The woman said, looking down at the floor. Her wavy hair shadowed her face, but Naruto still caught the grimace she made.

Sasuke felt a shudder go down his spine, and he looked behind him nervously. He grabbed a hold onto Naruto's sleeve and scooted closer to him. "Naruto, something's in here." He said quietly, catching both adults' attention.

Naruto looked around as well and frowned. "Yeah, I noticed it too." He turned back at the woman who seemed to be stunned by their observation. "Ma'am, has anything strange been happening lately?" When the woman seemed to hesitate, he smiled gently to help her relax. "It's okay; I'm from the Obihiro Shinto Shrine in Hokkaido. Maybe I can help you."

The woman glanced over at Sasuke who in return managed a small smile. "If you say so…" She stepped around the front desk and bowed to the two boys again. "Please come in."

"Thank you very much." Naruto and Sasuke said in unison, removing their shoes and following her into a much larger room where a hibachi table sat in the middle.

"Please sit down, and I'll go get us some tea."

"Thank you," Naruto said, his eyes following the woman as she went into another room on the right. He turned back to Sasuke and grinned, ruffling his hair. "You have a very good sixth sense. You're going to be one hell of a Baku when you learn to control your abilities."

Sasuke blushed and pushed the hand away. "It's like its staring down at me constantly," he said as he combed out his hair. "I don't like it. What's here?"

Naruto hummed as he tried to focus on the energy in the room, but he halted when a head poked out from a door a few feet away on the opposite side of the room. "Hello there," he said with a smile.

Sasuke looked over as well and stared at the young girl with hair just like the older woman. "Her daughter?" he asked quietly.

"Looks like it," Naruto whispered back.

"Asami!" The woman said strictly as she walked back into the room with a tray of traditional looking tea cups. "Return to your room immediately." The head disappeared and the door closed. "Please excuse my daughter. She's not allowed to leave her bedroom."

"Is that because of what's in the house?" Naruto asked, taking the tea cup offered to him.

The woman pressed her red lips into a thin line, before sighing and handing Sasuke his cup. "Let me start off by introducing myself. My name is Yūhi Kurenai. This inn has been passed down in my family for three generations, and usually it's a thriving business, but ever since my husband died unexpectedly…"

Naruto tilted his head to the side, catching Sasuke's attention. What was Naruto thinking? How was he possibly processing something from this little bit of information?

"Is it possible that your husband's spirit is dwelling here?" Naruto asked.

Kurenai looked at him as though she was surprised. "That's what I thought when weird things began to happen. Most of the strange occurrences were happening around my daughter, though. Plates falling on their own when she entered a room, terrible nightmares keeping her awake at night, and even guests were noticing the things happening around her. But I don't believe that Asuma would want to do any harm to our daughter. Whatever is in the house is malicious and evil. It is _not_ my husband."

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but the wooden beams holding up the ceiling began to creak and a cold air passed through the room. As soon as it began, it stopped and Sasuke looked at Naruto in panic. "Calm down," Naruto said with a cheerful laugh, rubbing Sasuke's back. He turned back to Kurenai and placed his hands on the table. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and this is my traveling companion, Uchiha Sasuke. We promise to help rid you of this spirit."

Kurenai looked at Sasuke with wide eyes. "Are you from the Baku Uchihas?"

Sasuke hesitated before nodding. "Yes, I am this generation's baku." He looked at Naruto, hoping it was okay that he said that, but the man wasn't looking at him.

"Then you can help my daughter with the awful nightmares she's been having. Please, she hasn't been able to sleep a whole night through for years."

"I…I'll do my best." Sasuke said quietly, feeling embarrassed for no particular reason.

"Actually," Naruto cut in. "Sasuke doesn't have much control over his abilities. We're on our way to his uncle's home so he can learn how to use them."

"Oh, I see…" Kurenai said, looking down at her lap.

Sasuke frowned at Naruto and he sat up on his knees, slamming his hands on the hibachi table. "I'll still do my best!"

Kurenai and Naruto both smiled at him and then at each other. "They're adorable when they're young." Naruto commented, and Sasuke huffed and sat back down. "How old is your daughter?"

"She'll be eleven in spring." Kurenai said.

Naruto grinned at Sasuke and ruffled his hair. "She's not much older than you, Sasuke." He turned back to Kurenai and became more serious, his back straightening and his tone changing. "We'll sit in your daughter's room tonight as she sleeps, and I'll try to watch for anything that might come into the room. Sasuke," he looked at the young boy. "Since you have no control over your abilities when you sleep, you'll lie next to her so the portal will open and draw the attention of the spirit."

"What if more oni come out like last time?" Sasuke asked, slightly panicked. He didn't want to deal with more demons looking like his family. Naruto gave him a look that made Sasuke calm down. He didn't know why he even asked that. He knew Naruto would protect him.

Naruto turned back to the older woman with a determined expression. "I need you to trust me. No matter what, you must keep faith in me at all times. By believing in me, I will be strong enough to help you and your daughter."

Kurenai made the same face and nodded.

* * *

><p>"Hey, are you ready?" Naruto asked as he looked up from the table where he was reading a faded pamphlet about Tokyo. He smirked at the black yukata with white pin stripes that Sasuke was wearing, held closed with a lavender belt. "Looking good, Sasuke."<p>

"Shut up, dobe," Sasuke said as his cheeks colored pink. "Kurenai-san took all my clothes to wash them, so I have to wear this." He eyed Naruto, who had been wearing the same outfit since they left five days ago. It never once wrinkled or smelled bad, and Sasuke figured it was because he was a powerful kitsune, so his clothes could never dirty.

"Well then, time to go." Naruto said, and he picked up his umbrella. The walked out of the room and down the hall to where Asami's room was.

"Naruto, Kurenai-san said that we're free to use the hot spring later, if you want…" Sasuke said quietly.

Naruto glanced at him and grinned. "You want to take a bath together, Sa-su-ke?"

The Uchiha glared at him and looked ahead. "D-don't be an idiot."

"We're here," Naruto said, and he knocked on the wooden paneling on the door. It slid open and he looked down to see a girl with Kurenai's hair, face and skin staring up at him with big brown eyes.

"You're the men going to stay with me tonight?" She asked quietly.

Naruto looked at Sasuke and raised an eyebrow. "I don't really know if _man_ is the right word for him…ow!" He laughed when Sasuke stepped on his toes. "Okay, okay, that hurts."

The girl giggled and stepped back to let them in. She closed the door and returned to her futon where she had been lying before. Another one had been laid next to hers as Naruto had requested. "My mother has asked that you please be on your best behavior tonight."

Naruto smiled politely at her. "Your mother is a very good woman." The girl nodded, and Naruto went to sit down against the wall next to her bed. A small table with a bowl of water and rag was on his left, and he rested his umbrella against it. "May I ask you about the kind of nightmares you are having?"

Asami looked down at her lap with a troubled expression. "It's very hard to explain. It's as if my head is no longer attached to my body, and there's always a baby crying…no, _screaming_. It's like that every time, and it frightens me."

Naruto put a fist to his lips and he frowned. "Like your head isn't attached to your body?"

"Yes. I have very bad back pains when I wake up." Asami said.

"Okay," Naruto said. "We'll know what's going on the sooner you two fall asleep. So bedtime, children." Sasuke glared at him and Naruto chuckled.

The light was turned off and Sasuke settled into the futon, passing out almost immediately due to not having slept in a bed for four nights straight. Asami didn't take long to fall asleep either and Naruto leaned back against the wall, sighing.

About three hours passed before he lifted his head when he could sense the portal to the netherworld opening through Sasuke's dreams, and his eyes trained on Asami. A clicking noise sounded from her, and then another and soon the room filled with the sound and the young girl's neck extended up and snaked around.

'_A rokurokubi?' _Naruto thought as his eyes traced the twenty foot long neck from the head to the young girl's body. _'What on earth has possessed her to turn her into a rokurokubi?' _

The girl's head went directly to Sasuke, staring into his sleeping face with a sly grin, obviously pleased with the portal he had created.

Naruto cleared his throat, catching the demon's attention. "Hey there. You know, it's very rude to breathe into people's faces like that."

The girls head hissed at him and immediately struck. Naruto dodged to the left just in time, hitting the table and knocking the dish of water off. It crashed to the floor, shattering into four large pieces.

The head zipped back into place and Sasuke and Asami both sat up quickly, looking at Naruto with wide eyes.

"Hehe, sorry about that." Naruto grinned.

Sasuke shot up from the bed and leaped over Asami, kneeling before Naruto. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"

Naruto laughed. "Jeez, Sasuke, I didn't think you'd worry about me so much."

"U-usuratonkachi!" Sasuke shouted.

At that moment, Kurenai opened the door and ran over to Asami. "Is everything okay?" She looked past her daughter to see the broken bowl, and turned to Naruto.

"Your daughter is being possessed in her sleep and turning into a rokurokubi. I didn't see the actual spirit that possesses her, but I do know now why she's having a hard time sleeping." Naruto said in a professional tone. "Unfortunately, I doubt that the spirit will come back tonight, but that's okay. We'll try again tomorrow night, and I'll make sure not to break anything." He looked at the bowl. "Sorry about that…"

"No, no, it's okay." Kurenai said quietly. "But how did you manage to find out what was wrong with her? I've stayed up with her countless nights and nothing happened."

"Rokurokubi are very tricky demons. They don't reveal themselves to people, and when they do, it's usually to fools, drunkards, the sleeping, or the blind." Naruto explained.

"But you…you were awake, right?"

"I was…" Naruto sighed, and looked at her sympathetically. "I wasn't completely truthful when I told you what I was. I am not a monk from a Shinto shrine. I am a kitsune, a messenger of Inari."

Kurenai's lips parted and her eyes widened, but then she closed them and shook her head. "I'm very grateful, no matter what you are. Please continue helping my daughter." She turned and bowed to Naruto.

Naruto bowed back even lower, placing his hands on the floor to keep him steady. "I will continue to do my best."

"Me too," Sasuke said, bowing along with Naruto.

"Thank you," Kurenai said with a gently smile.

Naruto stood up, Sasuke following suit, and picked up his umbrella. "I will let you rest now, Asami-chan. You shouldn't be bothered for the rest of the night, but just in case…" He handed Sasuke his umbrella and then looped his necklace over his head. He handed the blue crystal to the girl and grinned. "I'm going to need this back, but please wear it tonight. It will protect you."

Asami looked at him with wide brown eyes and took it quietly.

"You're a very brave girl. You deserve a good rest."

Kurenai smiled at her daughter and put the necklace around the young girl's neck. "Thank you very much, Naruto." She said.

"Yes, thank you very much, Naruto-san!" Asami added quickly.

Naruto nodded and left the room, followed by Sasuke. "I think I'm going to go relax in that hot spring. You go back to the room and get some sleep."

"No, I'll go with you." Sasuke said, looking straight ahead of him.

"Sasuke, you need to rest-"

"You promised you wouldn't leave my side." Sasuke stated. "So I'll take a bath with you."

Naruto bowed his head in defeat.

* * *

><p>"Ah, this is looks nice," Naruto sighed, holding the towel in front of him. He stepped into the water and waded over to the back of the indoor bath. The sound of the water spilling from a pipe in the wall was relaxing, and he leaned against the the decorative rocks that lined the edge to give the hot srping a more traditional feel. He looked over at Sasuke as the skinny boy came in at a slightly fast pace, a white towel wrapped around his waist.<p>

The boy dipped his foot in and mentally deemed the temperature okay before getting in all the way. The water quaked around him as he lowered himself down till the water reached his chin. He looked at Naruto, who in return turned his head away quickly. "I went to a hot spring once when I was six." He said, trying to make conversation.

Naruto looked back at him and smiled widely. "Really? Was it fun?"

"I guess…" Sasuke muttered, remember how his cousins had all been older and rough-housed in the bath. "It wasn't as relaxing as this."

Naruto nodded, but suddenly stilled when a white mist materialized next to Sasuke before forming into a tall woman with long hair. She knelt down on the floor next to Sasuke and reached a hand out to him as though seeing if he were real or not. "Sasuke, don't move." Naruto said quietly and the boy did as he was told.

"Are you the one who's been haunting this inn?" Naruto asked, standing up.

Sasuke's eyes widened, and he wanted to see who Naruto was talking to, but he had been told not to move and he wasn't planning on defying Naruto.

"I'm looking for my child." The woman said back in a whisper, though her tone was hostile. She never once took her eyes off Sasuke, her arms stretched out as though she were ready to grab at him.

"He's not yours," Naruto growled, reaching a hand up to grab his necklace. He patted around his chest before remembering that he had lent it to Asami. _'Damn it! I could easily be exorcising her right now!' _

"He has no mother," the woman whispered, getting a little closer to Sasuke.

"Stop right there!" Naruto snapped, taking a step forward. The woman sent him a glare and he shuddered. "He does too have a mother. He doesn't need nor want you."

"My child, my child…" the woman began to sob, looking back at Sasuke.

'_She's an ubume…no wonder her focus is on Asami and Sasuke. She's looking for the child she left behind and is trying to drag Asami over to her. Any kid will do for her, it seems.' _Naruto grit his teeth, really wishing that he had his necklace. "Get away from him!" He yelled at the spirit when she lunged at the Uchiha. "Sasuke, duck!"

Sasuke didn't even hesitate. The second the command left Naruto's lips, he squeezed his eyes shut and submerged under water, feeling something icy pass through the back of his head as he did so. Suddenly, the sound of a woman screaming in pain erupted in his ears and he put his hands over them to try to block out the noise, but it didn't help. It was as if the sound was coming from within his head. The screaming quieted down, and was replaced by a baby wailing.

He opened his eyes and found that the water wasn't burning them like it usually did. In fact, everything seemed to be moving clearly, but slowly around him. He looked up to see a woman in all white floating above the water and he backed away, closer to Naruto. Turning to look at him, he flinched to see that Naruto was a mere figure made of a wavering orange aura. Nine tails shifted around behind him and Sasuke realized that Naruto was definitely a nine-tailed kitsune.

He winced when his lungs began screaming for air, but he was sure that if Naruto wanted him to resurface, he would have said so by now. Looking back up at the surface, he saw the white woman charge at Naruto.

'_No! Naruto!' _ Sasuke opened his mouth to cry out, but all he got was water and he choked slightly before his vision became blurry and then the edges turned black.

He watched Naruto turn his body out of the way before he was swallowed by the darkness. _'Naruto…help me...'_

* * *

><p><strong>I know Kurenai and Asuma's baby doesn't have a specified gender yet, but I read somewhere that Kishimoto is considering making it a girl.<br>**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**AN: If anyone's curious as to why Naruto fights with an umbrella, it's because he's 'stick fighting,' which is a broad term for martial arts that use wooden 'sticks' for fighting such as a staff, cane, baton, etc. Umbrella was among the list and I thought that it would be fun for him to open it and use it as a shield. No, it's not a special umbrella or anything; he's had to replace it several times.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

_Am I not good enough to be a baku?_

_I always asked myself that because my father wanted Itachi to be this generation's baku._

"_You would have made a better baku, huh, big brother?" I asked._

_Itachi turned to look at me from where he sat on the floor in the front entrance, putting on his shoes before heading off to his first day of junior high school. He looked so cool and mature in his uniform; I couldn't wait to get into junior high. He waved his hand at me in a beckoning motion and smiled. "Don't listen to what father says, Sasuke. You're going to be a great baku."_

_I smiled back and trotted over to Itachi, only to have him tap me on the forehead with two fingers. I always ended up running into that one._

* * *

><p>Sasuke gasped for air, and a hand turned him over onto his side where he coughed up the water that was in his lungs. He continued hacking until there was nothing left and he rolled onto his back. He inhaled deeply through his gaping mouth and looked at Naruto with blurred vision.<p>

"Can you hear me?" Naruto asked, snapping his fingers next to Sasuke's left ear, and then his right. "Sasuke?"

"Yes, dobe, I can hear you…" Sasuke said quietly after a few more breaths. The sound those fingers were making echoed off the walls of the indoor hot spring and irritated him to no end. Slowly, with Naruto's help, he sat up and looked down at his bare lap. A blush spread across his cheeks like wildfire when he realized that he wasn't wearing his towel. Naruto handed him a dry towel that had been sitting on the floor.

"Um…" Naruto began, looking up at the ceiling, his cheeks colored red. It wasn't that he was embarrassed to see Sasuke naked, but the boy seemed mortified by the fact that he was, which in turn made Naruto feel awkward. "Asami is being possessed by an ubume. It's not very common for those kinds of spirits to possess people, but they're also very unpredictable."

Sasuke stared at his hands, recalling the white woman who had lunged at Naruto. "What's…an ubume?"

Naruto looked at him, his eyebrows rising at Sasuke's quiet question, though it wasn't that abnormal for him. "It's the spirit of a woman who either died in child birth, or died without seeing to her child's safety. They generally lead people to where their children are hidden, but some who are lost and don't know where their child is try to steal kids."

The young boy clutched the towel, remembering the woman in white that had been floating above him, and the things Naruto was saying to her. And that crying he had heard under water…it was a woman screaming and a baby crying. He could still hear it clearly in his mind and he drew his legs up to his chest, resting his forehead against his knees. He wanted his own mother so badly right now.

Naruto assumed he was feeling bad from passing out, so he stood up and gently pulled Sasuke to his feet. "Come on, let's go to bed."

Sasuke almost shook his head. He wasn't tired, not right now, anyway. But he wasn't about to defy the kitsune. He wanted to ask Naruto what had happened after he passed out. He wanted to know why the ubume was in the bath house with them in the first place. He wanted to know about the orange aura he had seen inside Naruto.

His eyes…that pressure he had felt in his eyes as he looked up through the water. He had never experienced anything like that before, and he wanted answers. But he kept his mouth shut; he didn't want to bother Naruto. In fact, he didn't want to have to ask at all. He wanted Naruto to tell him in his own time without having to inquire anything.

He wanted Naruto to see him as an equal.

They returned to their room where two futons were laid out next to each other, about five feet apart. Sasuke walked ahead of Naruto and immediately retired under the covers, keeping his back to the man even though he was sure Naruto knew he was awake.

The blond closed the door and turned off the light in the room, able to see perfectly in the darkness. He placed his clothes on the floor next to the futon, having put on a powder blue yukata, and sat down on his bed. He looked at Sasuke's back and exhaled quietly.

The ubume had disappeared just as soon as Sasuke passed out under water. She lost sight of him due to him being unconscious, which worried Naruto. Was she that in tuned to him that if she loses sense of him, she also vanishes?

Naruto got under the cover of his futon. "Good night."

Sasuke said nothing in return.

* * *

><p>Sasuke smiled awkwardly at Kurenai as she set down a tray containing a bowl of steamed rice, miso soup, and a broiled salted salmon in front of him on the table. She left the room and he sighed, pushing the tray a few inches away from him.<p>

Naruto looked at him, having already begun eating, and set his chopsticks and bowl of rice down. "Sasuke, pass me your tray, I'll eat it for you." They swapped trays, making it look like Sasuke had eaten a little less than half of his breakfast. "Tonight," Naruto said, breaking off a piece of the salmon. "I'm going to exorcise the ubume. But Sasuke," Their eyes met. "I don't want you in the room."

The Uchiha sat up on his knees abruptly and slammed his hands on the table, causing the dishes to clink and a little bit of miso soup to slosh over the edge of the bowl. He narrowed his dark eyes at Naruto. "We're a team!" he announced loudly. "We do things together!"

"Since when are we a team?" Naruto asked under his breath as he finished chewing. "It's too dangerous for you, a child, who can't even see the spirit."

Sasuke felt his chest tighten, and he glared even harder at Naruto. He wanted to be equals, but Naruto only saw him as a child. Didn't the man even say himself that Sasuke was going to be a powerful baku when he had control of his powers? "Stop looking at my age, usuratonkachi! Look at me for who I am!" Curious blue eyes stared at him and he sighed, sitting back down on his legs. He tried to hide his embarrassment from his outburst. "I was able to see that woman last night," he said more calmly. "The woman wearing all white. And…I saw your tails. You're all orange on the inside. I could see it when I went underwater."

Naruto's eyes widened a fraction, but he did his best to remain impassive. "Does this mean…" He paused for a moment to swallow. "Does this mean that you've activated your Sharingan already?" If Sasuke had already activated his eyes without any training, then he was a god damn prodigy in the baku business.

Judging by the look Sasuke gave him, Naruto instantly realized that the boy had never once been told about the Sharingan. His parents had probably never once thought that their son would trigger the skill before meeting with his trainer. "Your Sharingan is a bloodline limit that Uchiha origin baku have. I don't know the all the details, but I do know that all baku have dōjutsu kekkei genkai. The Uchiha clan has the Sharingan while the Hyūga clan has the Byakugan. There's also the Rinnegan, but I heard that it hasn't been seen for centuries.

"Baku use their kekkei genkai for various tasks in their line of work, but the basic point is using them to enter someone's dream or nightmare. Also, with the kekkei genkai activated, a baku becomes aware of all the other supernatural beings around them. That would explain why you were able to see the ubume last night, and…my tails."

Sasuke bit back the grin that threatened to split his face. "That's good, right? Now I can help you." He sat up on his knees a little and tried to give Naruto his best pout, which was hard because he _never_ pouted before. He'd seen other kids do it to get their way, but he knew it would never work with his family so he never even attempted. Hopefully Naruto would fall for it.

"Absolutely not," Naruto said, looking down at his food so he didn't laugh at the expression Sasuke was making at him. It just didn't suit the Uchiha at all, not to mention he wasn't doing it right.

"I can help you! I open the portal in my sleep, remember? You need me!" Sasuke was back to pressing his hands on the table and leaning forward, desperation all over his face. '_See me for me, Naruto! See me as a necessity, please!'_

Naruto smirked as though he had known that would be Sasuke's argument, and he was prepared to counter it. "I only used that as a precaution to draw out the demon, but now that I know what it is, I don't want you in the room. It's dangerous, Sasuke. She's after you too, you know."

"I'll be fine," Sasuke pushed.

"I said no."

"Well, you're not the boss of me."

Naruto looked at the raven-haired boy in disbelief. He seriously did not just pull that line. Sighing, Naruto set down his chopsticks and stood up from the table, picking up his hat that he had set on the floor next to him. He glared down at Sasuke who was looking up at him with wide eyes. "I _am_ the boss of you. I'm the one who has to look out for you, and I will not put you in harms way. _End_ of discussion." He turned to walk out of the room.

The dishes clacked together behind him and he turned around, easily catching the chopstick that had been thrown at him. He tightened his fist around it and looked darkly at the boy who was now standing on the other side of the table, another chopstick ready in his hand. Their narrowed eyes met and Naruto felt the anger boiling inside him. He snapped the wooden utensil in half and held out his arm, releasing the two halves from his hand for Sasuke to see them. "Don't even try," he growled, and then left the room.

It took Sasuke several minutes to realize that he was frozen in fear. He suddenly came to and fell to the floor, his legs too wobbly to hold him up. Naruto was strong, he already knew that. But to make such a face towards _Sasuke_…that was different than watching him fight off oni. It made Sasuke's insides flip, along with some unnamed emotion that made his face heat up and the back of his neck prickle. He rubbed his legs together, staring at where Naruto had been. It made him feel funny.

"Damn him…" Sasuke hissed. He looked to the door when it opened, and he quickly put a hand over his mouth, afraid that he had been caught saying a bad word.

Kurenai looked at him, concerned. "Is everything all right?" she asked, walking over to the table to pick up Naruto's tray.

"Y-yes," Sasuke said, embarrassed. He put the single chopstick in his hand back onto his tray. "We…uh…sorry, we broke one of your…" He looked down at his lap, unsure of how to explain _why_ Naruto broke the eating utensil.

Kurenai smiled. "Please don't worry about it. It's no problem at all." She lifted the tray and left the room.

Sasuke felt so utterly alone that he couldn't stand it. He quickly followed after the woman and asked her to give him chores to do.

* * *

><p>The door of Asami's room slid open that night, breaking the peaceful silence, and Naruto frowned at the figure standing in the threshold. "Get out," he said, adjusting the hat on his head.<p>

"No, I'm staying," Sasuke whispered back, closing the door behind him as quietly as possible, trying not to wake up Asami. He stepped slowly over to Naruto, sitting on his legs next to the blond man.

Naruto looked at him sharply. "I told you not to come in here." He said, using a hushed tone.

"And I told you that you're not the boss of me." Sasuke snuck a peek at the blue stone around Naruto's neck as it glimmered in the moonlight coming through the window on the far left.

"Yes I am. I'm taking care of you right now, and I don't want you to be in here."

"You promised never to leave my side."

Naruto blanched. "So what, does that mean I have to be physically next to you at all times?"

Sasuke flinched slightly, and looked down at his lap. He actually had thought about it like that, though he was sure that wasn't what Naruto meant at the time. "Well, no, but…" He trailed off when the figure under the blanket before them shifted and Asami popped her head out, looking at the two males with a sleepy expression.

"Naruto-san, Sasuke-kun, could you two be more quiet? I can't sleep." Asami said quietly.

Naruto laughed nervously and Sasuke looked down at his lap, ashamed. "Sorry about that, Asami-chan. Please go back to sleep."

"I'm sorry…" Sasuke muttered, hoping Naruto could tell that he was apologizing to him, too. He just wanted so badly to be there with Naruto, on the battlefield, just like he had with those oni in his house. He could be of help to Naruto if the man just _let_ him.

Naruto didn't realize he had been staring into space until Sasuke's head suddenly fell against his arm. He looked at the young boy, realizing he had fallen asleep, and cussed under his breath. How long had he been zoned out?

He had been thinking of ways to break Sasuke out of his bad habit of talking back to him, but then those thoughts got lost amongst memories of his own rebellious childhood. Of course, times were different now compared to back then.

The same clicking from last night sounded and Naruto stiffened, wondering if he should wake Sasuke or just lean him against something else. He opted for the latter, keeping an eye on the ever extending neck of the girl as he pushed Sasuke off slowly. The boy inhaled sharply and opened his dark eyes.

"What is that?" he croaked, still slightly asleep and unsure if the creature in front of him was real.

Asami's head, eyes rolled back and mouth opened to reveal fangs, hissed at them before shooting towards them at a blinding speed. Naruto shoved Sasuke out of the way, who rolled over Asami's feet and caught himself. He braced his hands on the floor and turned in his crouching position. He fell out of the way when the head came back after him once more, zipping around the room and make its neck even longer.

Naruto grabbed his umbrella and slammed it hard against the length of extended neck in front of him, successfully drawing the rokurokubi's attention back to him. He opened the umbrella to block the face that came at him, open mouthed and ready to bite.

"Sasuke, get out of here!" Naruto shouted as he shoved the head back and stood up, leaping backwards over the table that was on his left. He closed the umbrella and immediately regretted it when the head collided into this forehead. "Guh!" he cried out, and smacked the head back when it followed him.

Sasuke stood on shaky legs and took a step back, but he hit the wall with a loud thud, and a cry of pain escaped his lips as his head began to throb. Slowly, the sound of a woman screaming and a baby crying began to reverberate off the walls around him, getting louder with each beat of his pounding heart.

"My child!" the rokurokubi screeched, rushing past Naruto and at the young boy leaning back against the wall. "_My child_!"

Sasuke snapped his eyes open.

"Sasuke, _move_!" Naruto shouted, dropping his umbrella and grabbing the neck, and wincing as sharp bones pierced him from beneath the skin. The rokurokubi suddenly halted and Naruto had to restrain himself from sighing in relief. He held tight a bit longer before he realized that it wasn't moving at all. He walked hurriedly alongside the neck, keeping a hand trailing along one side of it in case it lurched forward. He made it to the head and paused, eyes widening as he realized exactly why the head had stilled.

The young Uchiha was plastered against the wall, eyes wide and red with three black tomoe orbiting around the pupil.

"The Sharingan…" Naruto muttered. He looked into the Rokurokubi's face and saw that it was in a trance caused by the bloodline limit. "Luck, Sasuke. Pure _luck_." He pulled out his necklace and held it to the demon's face. "_Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin Retsu, zai, zen__! Akuryō Taisan!_"

The neck retreated, zipping back into place until Asami's head sat normally on her shoulders, and the white Ubume was dragged from the girl's body and into his necklace, the room filling with a wind that tore a wall hanging off its hook and sounded like a train rushing by.

Naruto winced when the wind caused his necklace to fly up and hit him in the eye, and his hat to drift away. _Touché, ubume_, he thought while scowling.

Everything calmed down, seeming almost too quiet, and Naruto wondered why Kurenai hadn't come rushing in from all the noise. Unless, like the rokurokubi, everything around them had stopped moving.

Naruto lifted his hand in front of his face and balled it into a fist, then opened it, then made a fist again. He looked at Sasuke, who was clearly breathing, but still paralyzed against the wall. He knelt down before the pale boy and clasped his large hands over small, bony shoulders.

"Sasuke…hey, Sasuke!"

He shook him a little and Sasuke slowly turned his head to Naruto.

Sasuke blinked and his eyes reverted back to their usual never ending black pits. "Naruto…" he whispered. "I feel sick." Naruto pulled him into a hug.

"You did well, Sasuke," he whispered. He pulled away just as quickly when the door opened and Kurenai rushed in.

"What happened?" the woman cried, looking at the torn rice paper of the windows and the wallpaper. She rushed to Asami's side where the girl lay quietly, unmoving.

"She's fine," Naruto said reassuringly, turning away from Sasuke and moving over to the mother and daughter, completely unaware of the hand that reached after him.

Sasuke sighed and slid down against the wall, fighting back the tears in his eyes.

Naruto explained to Kurenai about the stress put on a human's body when a demon or spirit is exorcised from them. "She's going to need a lot of rest, but when she recovers, everything will be back to normal. She'll be able to leave her room…" He trailed off as a heavy weight settled on his shoulders and he turned to look at Sasuke who was sitting against the wall, knees drawn to his chest. He had lost a little faith in Naruto.

"Are you okay, Sasuke-kun?" Kurenai asked, hesitant to leave her daughter's side.

Sasuke nodded and Naruto frowned.

"He's drained from using his powers," Naruto said as an excuse, though it wasn't too far from the truth. "I should take him back to the room." He walked over to the boy who immediately threw himself at Naruto, hugging him around the neck and burying his face into his shoulder. Naruto's eyes softened and he lifted Sasuke up from the floor, supporting him by his back and legs.

Turning to Kurenai, Naruto bowed slightly. "Thank you for trusting in me to help your daughter."

Kurenai bowed back even deeper. "Thank you for helping Asami. I am very grateful."

Naruto excused himself and carried Sasuke out of the room. As he walked down the hall, he could feel the warm tears seeping through his white shirt. "What did you see?" he asked quietly.

Sasuke said nothing and only clung to Naruto tighter.

The man let go of Sasuke's back to open and close the door, not bothering to turn on the light in the room. He laid Sasuke on his futon, but the boy didn't let go of him, so he lay down as well, sighing. "What did you see?" he repeated.

"She was murdered…" Sasuke let out a choked sob. "I…I saw everything…two men broke into her house and k-killed her husband…a-and they touched her…"

Naruto's eyes widened. Sasuke had seen the ubume's memories of being raped and murdered. The poor kid must be traumatized.

"They t-touched her…and-and she was screaming…and her baby in the n-next room…the baby was crying! And they killed her!" Sasuke shuddered at the images, the pain, the fear; everything felt like it was happening to him, like he was reliving the ubume's last moments in the world. He began bawling, clutching Naruto tighter to him and uncaring of how embarrassing his crying was. He would feel ashamed later, but not right now.

Naruto hugged onto Sasuke, wishing he could make him forget what he had seen.

"I want my mom!" Sasuke sobbed. "Mommy!"

Naruto bit his lip and tried not to let his own emotions slip out. He couldn't stand seeing Sasuke like this. He hadn't wanted the young boy in the room in the first place, but now wasn't the time to care about whether or not Sasuke had listened to him. All he could do was hold the eight-year-old and try to act as a substitute for his mother.

About an hour of Sasuke crying and Naruto rubbing his back passed, and finally the Uchiha fell asleep, his hold never letting up on Naruto.

* * *

><p>Sasuke pulled up his black sock up to his knee again, it having fallen during their walking. He ran up to Naruto who had stopped to wait for him a few feet ahead.<p>

He was so glad when Naruto woke him up earlier that morning and told him they were leaving. He wanted to get far, far away from that inn.

Kurenai had been grateful for their help, and didn't charge them for the two night stay. Asami made them both a lunch to take with them on their journey as a thank you present, which Sasuke felt guilty for accepting since he couldn't eat it. The mother and daughter stood in the doorway of the tavern and saw them off, and Naruto never once mentioned what happened the night before.

Sasuke could still hear the woman's screaming in his head, but he distracted himself by listening to Naruto ramble on about not having eaten ramen in a long time and how he really preferred miso ramen over tonkotsu.

Really, this man could be such an idiot…

They only stopped one more time at a house on the outskirts of Kofu where Naruto exorcised a futakuchi-onna and saved a woman with an eating disorder.

The screeching that had been coming from the mouth on the back of the woman's head nearly made Sasuke go deaf even though he waited outside the house like Naruto had told him too. He wasn't going to risk the chance of seeing something he didn't want to like last time. He made a mental pact to never disobey Naruto's orders ever again.

The screaming suddenly stopped and Sasuke waited anxiously for Naruto to come out of the house. It was a grungy dwelling, clay shingles missing from the roof and the wooden siding of the house was splintering. It made Sasuke nervous just looking at it, like it would hurt him. He knew it sounded ridiculous, but what could he do?

Finally, the door opened and Naruto stepped out, closing it behind him. "She'll be fine now," he said reassuringly.

"Where's your umbrella?" Sasuke asked, suddenly on edge. Had Naruto been fighting without it? He had it when he went inside, right? He suddenly couldn't remember and that bothered him.

Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, it kind of broke when I was in there. But her sister gave me money to buy a new one. Everything is okay." He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the notes that he had been given. "Check it out, fifteen hundred yen."

"Wow," Sasuke said, suddenly forgetting his previous nervousness.

Naruto pocketed them again and then reached out, ruffling Sasuke's hair. "So we're almost to your uncle's house. Where in Kofu is he?"

Of course Sasuke knew this topic was going to come up eventually, but he still wasn't sure how Naruto would react. He looked to the side for a moment before inhaling deeply and meeting curious blue eyes. "I don't know."

Naruto's head tilted to the side, his bangs sweeping over his forehead. "You don't know?"

Sasuke shook his head.

"You little brat!" Naruto yelled abruptly, grinding his fists into Sasuke's temples. "You had us come all this way and don't even know where your uncle lives? Are you even sure he's in Kofu? We could have checked the address book in your house if you had told me you didn't know! Why are you such a little punk?"

Sasuke winced at the rough treatment and forced Naruto's hands off of him. "Stop acting like an oversized baby," he snapped, annoyed at having been treated in such a way. "I know for a fact that my uncle lives in Kofu, I'm just unsure of his address. We can ask people about his dojo and then we'll be fine."

Naruto glared down at the boy, and he folded his arms over his chest. "Fine, if you think you're so smart then _you'll_ be the one to ask around. Everything's up to you now, Sasuke. Lead the way." He took a step back and bowed mockingly while holding his arm out to the right where the road stretched before them.

The young Uchiha huffed and turned on his heels, walking ahead of the man. Naruto could be such an idiot sometimes.

* * *

><p>"Man, that was rough!" a tall boy with cropped, dark brown hair whined, rubbing his left shoulder while he rotated it. "Kakashi sensei can be so mean."<p>

"But that's why he's the best." A slightly shorter boy with dyed blond hair said enthusiastically. He adjusted the bag containing a shinai on his shoulder. "Did you see what he did to Terashima when he stepped over my shinai?"

The other boy laughed. "Yeah, that was wild! Who knew that was considered disrespectful!" His laughter died down as Sasuke and Naruto passed them on the long drive, and he turned his head to look at them. "Check that out. What a shady guy. And what's he doing with a kid?"

"A pedophile, maybe?"

Naruto glanced over his shoulder and sent the two boys a bone chilling glare. They gulped and began jogging to get out onto the street. Naruto smirked in triumph, quickly turning it into a cheerful grin when Sasuke looked up at him questionably.

Sasuke nearly jumped when the shoji-styled door slid open suddenly, and a tall man with silver hair and an eye patch stood before them. It was like he had known they were coming. He looked thoroughly confused at Naruto's presence, but then relaxed slightly when he glanced down and saw Sasuke.

"Uncle," Sasuke said, trying not to smile with relief at the sight of a familiar face. He ran the last few feet of the drive and stopped before his uncle on the porch. He had to throw his head back to meet his eyes. "I'm here for my training."

"Uh, Sasuke, I don't think you should just say it like that…" Naruto muttered when he stopped a few meters away from the steps.

The man named Kakashi looked down at the boy with a tired, yet calculating face, as though he hadn't heard what Sasuke said and was trying to figure out on his own as to why Sasuke was there. Finally, he crossed his arms and looked at Sasuke with a stern expression. "You were supposed to be here a week ago. What happened?" He looked at Naruto and his only visible eye narrowed. "Who are you?"

"You won't believe this, uncle," Sasuke said, suddenly becoming excited as he gripped onto the tall man's pant's leg and tugged. "But I accidently sent mom, dad, and Itachi into the dream realm." If this information bothered his uncle, he didn't notice, and he just kept talking. "Next thing I know, demons had replaced them and they attacked me. I ran away in time, and I found Naruto."

Kakashi looked at the blond-haired man wearing a white fedora. "Naruto, I assume."

"Uzumaki Naruto," he introduced himself, bowing respectfully to Sasuke's uncle.

"Naruto's a nine-tailed kitsune, uncle. He's strong, and he's been-" Sasuke was abruptly cut off when his uncle pushed him aside and stood in front of him in a protective manner.

"A kitsune?" Kakashi asked darkly, his jaw set. "Is that true? You're a nine-tailed kitsune?"

Naruto swallowed in order to sooth his throat when it went dry. He knew that look, but he also knew that he couldn't do anything about it. "Yes. I'm a nine-tailed kitsune."

"Get off my property." Kakashi snapped, balling his hands into tight fists. His nails, though blunt, were piercing his skin but he didn't care. "_Now_."

Naruto didn't even flinch at the harsh tone. He knew far too well that not everyone was accepting of kitsunes like Kurenai had been, and Sasuke was too young to understand. Though every fiber of his being wanted to object, he recognized the fact that he couldn't.

Glancing at Sasuke, who looked thoroughly confused at his uncle's behavior, he sighed in defeat and returned to making eye contact with Kakashi. He nodded and quietly made his way back down the driveway.

"No, Naruto!" Sasuke called out when he noticed the retreating back. He stepped out from behind his uncle, but strong hands pulled him back by his shoulders.

"Sasuke, stop." Kakashi snapped. "Nine-tailed kitsunes are evil beings."

"Let go!" he cried out, ignoring his uncle. Naruto wasn't evil! He helped people, and he protected Sasuke! No evil creature did that. "Naruto!" His chest began to feel tight and tears gathered in his eyes as he watched Naruto walk away. "You promised you wouldn't leave me!" he cried.

Naruto's shoulders tensed and his head bowed, but he didn't look back at the young boy. He reached the end of the drive and turned left outside the wall that surrounded Kakashi's property.

Sasuke continued to struggle and pull against his uncle's hold on him, however futile it was. He began kicking while crying out the kitsune's name, and he even attempted to bite one of the hands holding him back.

"Stop that this instant." Kakashi said, reminding Sasuke of his father. The boy immediately stilled at the authoritative command. "You're going to make the neighbors wonder." He pulled the suddenly submissive child inside the entry way and closed the door, locking it.

He turned to look at Sasuke who was staring down at his feet. Sighing, he rubbed at the back of his neck and glanced away, feeling awkward. "Clearly that demon has bewitched you. You cannot trust a kitsune, Sasuke. I don't know what he's told you, but forget all of it." When the boy didn't respond, he sighed yet again and folded his arms over his chest. "Take off your shoes and follow me." He kicked off his geta and began heading down the hallway on the left of the entryway.

He glanced behind him to see Sasuke slip out of his school shoes and follow him wordlessly. "You're in your school uniform?" he asked, spotting the white button-up shirt beneath the heavy black coat Sasuke wore.

Sasuke gripped the straps of his school bag protectively and looked off to the side. "It was in the rotation," he informed his uncle quietly.

"Rotation?" Kakashi inquired, trying to make conversation as they headed into the kitchen.

"I've been wearing my clothes in a rotation," the boy said, though it didn't really make anything clearer to his uncle. He didn't care, though. He wanted Naruto back.

"Sit," Kakashi said, pointed at the kitchen table. He walked over to the counter where a canister of tea leaves was. He opened it, inhaling the sweet herbs, but then a thought occurred to him and he looked at Sasuke. "You can't eat anymore, can you?"

Sasuke shook his head, not turning to look at his uncle.

"You're mad at me." Kakashi said, closing the container with a frown. "Why?"

"You kicked Naruto out when he hasn't done anything wrong." Sasuke deadpanned. He flinched when his uncle slammed his hands on the counter.

"You cannot _trust_ a kitsune." Kakashi repeated from before. "Especially one with nine tails. Sasuke, why can't you understand this?"

"Because he's done nothing but help me!" Sasuke said, pushing out of the chair and glaring at the tall man. "Naruto is a good person! And he promised to help me save my family!"

Kakashi pressed his lips into a tight line and leaned back against the counter. "Where's your family?" he asked after a few minutes of heavy silence.

Sasuke decided that the floor was far more interesting to look at than his uncle that moment. "I told you…I accidently sent them to the dream realm."

Kakashi scoffed at this. "Dream realm, eh? Haven't heard it called that in a long time. Did your kitsune friend call it that?"

The Uchiha hesitated for a minute before nodding. Was it not normally called the dream realm? Maybe Naruto _had_ lied to him. He felt a twinge of pain in his chest, and he gripped the material of his jacket that resided over that left part of his chest. No, he couldn't think like that. No negative thoughts about Naruto. He trusted him. He believed in him.

"It used to be referred to as the dream realm; mostly because when one is there they feel as though they're in a dream-like state. Really, it's the border between the world of the living and the netherworld." Kakashi explained.

"Is my family safe there?" Sasuke asked in a quiet voice.

Kakashi looked down at his nephew and smiled reassuringly. "Of course they're safe. It wasn't called the dream realm for nothing."

Sasuke relaxed visibly. It was stupid of him to have ever doubted Naruto.

After Sasuke explained everything that had happened in the past week, he and his uncle took a bath where they reminisced on old family memories. Kakashi wasn't really his uncle, of course. Not by blood, at least. When they finished bathing, Kakashi showed him to a guest room where he could sleep.

"If you need anything, I'm down the hall." Kakashi said. He waited for the boy to nod and then closed the bedroom door.

Sasuke sighed, feeling like he was back in the inn with the traditional oriental style of Kakashi's house. He wished Naruto was next to him because the memories of what happened to the ubume began flooding back, and he choked back his tears. Naruto would hold him tight, and Sasuke would feel safe in his arms. If he could, he would run after Naruto, but he didn't know where the man was by now. He could be out of Kofu completely. It was unsettling without Naruto around.

He tossed around on the futon, unable to fall asleep. He kept glancing at the clock on a table, but soon realized that it wasn't even working when it read the exact same time about half an hour later. Looking around the room that was illuminated by the pale white light of the moon from outside the shoji doors leading to the wraparound porch, he quickly became bored of the nondescript furniture.

He rubbed his feet together, trying to warm them. He didn't understand why he couldn't sleep. His body was tired, and his eyes were heavy, but something in his mind prevented him from sleeping. Something was missing…something important. Something that was always there before. His lips parted when he realized that this was the first time this week that he was sleeping in a room without Naruto next to him. And every time they took a nap on a bench in a train station, or on the train itself, Sasuke would always lean against Naruto's body while the kitsune hugged an arm around him and held his umbrella in front of Sasuke protectively.

This was crazy, but Sasuke couldn't sleep without Naruto by his side. He was a part of Sasuke now; a norm that he had become used to and didn't want to get rid of. If Naruto wasn't there, Sasuke felt incomplete and on edge. The man had wormed his way into the youngest Uchiha's life and staked a permanent place there. One that would remain there forever, even after all this was over. With Naruto absent, Sasuke was hollow. He needed to have Naruto back.

As if answering to his thoughts, a sudden whistling caught Sasuke's attention and he sat up straight in the futon. He ignored how his head began to swim from the sudden change in position. He waited till his dizziness subsided before running over to the shoji door that lead outside, unlocking it and sliding it open quietly. He looked both ways on the porch.

That song from Swan Lake…Naruto was close by. He stepped out onto the porch and closed the door, wincing when it slammed into the door jam. He wasted no time running along the porch, his bare feet thudding loudly on the wood; though he didn't slow down to try to hide his activity. Naruto was here and he had to find him. He made it to the driveway and began pushing his legs to move faster. The pavement hurt under his tender feet.

The wind was rushing past him, and the drive suddenly seemed way too long. But Naruto's whistling was getting louder and Sasuke was determined to get past the wall. He didn't care that he was in his pajamas, or that it was the middle of the night, or that his uncle might get mad at him for running to a kitsune.

He stubbed his toe against the concrete and he hissed at the stinging sensation that shot up his leg. His steps faltered from the injury, and he was down to a sort of limping jog by the time he reached the gate. Slowing to a walk, he inhaled deeply and took the last step off his uncle's property, turning left to face the whistling.

His heart seemed to jump up and catch in his throat at the sight of Naruto lounging back against the wall surrounding Kakashi's house, his legs crossed and his hands holding his hat and umbrella on his lap. He swallowed to clear the lump in his throat when blue eyes turned up at him questioningly.

"What are you doing out of bed, Sasuke? It's late." Naruto stated the obvious far too much.

"Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke shouted in his annoyance at the man, though it came out sounding distressed and almost penitent. "Why are you sitting out here in the cold? Come inside. We can share my futon."

Naruto gave the boy a somber smile. "Your uncle told me to leave his property."

"Ignore him," Sasuke said quickly. He reached forward and grabbed Naruto by his bicep, pulling on his arm with at first gentle tugs, but then becoming frantic. "Come on! You don't have to listen to him. Come inside." _I need you, dobe!_

Naruto shook his head and pulled his arm free of Sasuke's grasp. "I cannot, Sasuke. Your uncle told me not to come in, so I literally cannot go in. Once we're not welcomed somewhere, we are unable to set foot in the place. It's as if a barrier has been put up and I can't cross it." His eyebrows rose when the Uchiha plopped down on sidewalk next to him, leaning against his body while drawing his knees to his chest.

"Then I'll stay out here with you." Sasuke announced, scooting himself closer to the warmth Naruto seemed to generate like a space heater. He wasn't going to let this man sit outside alone.

Naruto threw his head back and let out a bark of laughter. "Really, Sasuke, go back to bed." He looked over at Sasuke with a determined smirk, one that Sasuke adored and depended on. "I never break a promise, remember? I will stay by your side, even if I can't be physically next to you. I'll be as close to you as I possibly can."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, and he pressed his lips together in defiance. "Yeah, but-"

Blue eyes narrowed and silenced the boy's argument. "I'll be here when you wake up, so go back to bed."

Realizing that fighting back was useless, Sasuke grunted and stood back up, his body instantly missing the other's heat. "Don't ever leave me, dobe." Sasuke said, looking away to hide the blush on his cheeks.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Naruto grinned.

Sasuke nodded in his resolve, and he leaned over suddenly, resting a hand tenderly on Naruto's shoulder and pressing a kiss to the kitsune's lips. He pulled back mere seconds later and turned around, running back through the gate and up the driveway.

He didn't care that he slammed the door to his bedroom when he returned. He slid down against the wall and pressed his cold hands to his flaring cheeks. He just…he just kissed Naruto! He didn't know why he did it; his body had acted on its own accord! Sure, he could try to play it off as just a meaningless kiss, like the kind his mother gave him before he went to bed. But he had pushed much harder than that. And he could still feel his lips tingling with the sensation Naruto's against his. He was pretty sure that Naruto's bottom lip had someone gotten caught between his.

"Oh no…" Sasuke whined. Naruto was going to hate him! And even knowing this, he couldn't help but crawl under the cover of his futon and curl up his body at the feeling of butterflies in his stomach. He covered his hand over his mouth to keep from smiling, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

Naruto could hate him all he wanted for the kiss, but the idiot still had to stay with him. Sasuke removed his hand and sighed. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, feeling as though Naruto was in the room with him.

Outside the gate of Hatake Kakashi's home, Naruto pressed his fingers to his bottom lip and exhaled, his breath mixing with the moisture in the air and forming a white cloud that evaporated in seconds. "Such a brat…"

* * *

><p><strong>Note that Naruto has yet to call Sasuke a 'teme' even though Sasuke's been calling him a 'dobe' and 'usuratonkachi'. I just felt like Naruto would feel bad for calling a kid something like 'teme'. But don't worry, when Sasuke grows up, it's going to be thrown around like a sack of potatoes.<br>**


End file.
